Sender: To: X-Original-Message-ID: <008201bf484d$78632b70$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> From: "Peter McWilliams" Subject: More on Gore Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 21:13:35 -0800 X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Excerpts: Gore Speaks on Medical Marijuana By Ceci Connolly Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 15, 1999 Following are excerpts of Vice President Gore's comments at a forum in Derry, N.H. on Dec. 14 and in a session with reporters after the forum: On whether he supports the Clinton administration's policy opposing the therapeutic use of marijuana: "It depends upon the extent to which doctors are involved in the process. When you have a process that is so loosely defined so that the prescription part of it is not taken seriously and there are absolutely no controls over it then I think that's a problem and I'm against that and I think the federal laws against marijuana have to be enforced. "I think where you have doctors who have documented that there is a specific case with symptoms where this is definitely going to alleviate pain, I think that's something else again. "My sister died of lung cancer. When she was taking chemotherapy toward the end, it was prescribed for her and she decided against it because she didn't like it; it didn't produce the desired result. But the doctor said 'look this is an option that she ought to have available, very carefully monitored and controlled. And if it had worked for I think that she should have had the ability to get her pain relieved that way." "I'm not a medical expert. I do not favor legalizing marijuana and I don't favor doing it through the back door, which some of these state initiatives tend to aim toward. But I think where you have sufficient controls I think that doctors ought to have that option." On whether he wants to legalize the prescribing of marijuana: "I thought that it was in some cases prescribed now . . . I think there are two conflicting values here. Let me put all my cards on the table and tell you how I've struggled through the issue. I think it would be a terrible mistake to legalize marijuana. The marijuana commonly available today, I'm told, is many times stronger typically than the kind of marijuana that was commonly available several decades ago, which my generation thinks about when debating this issue." "I believe that it is harmful. I believe that it is not good to open up more access to marijuana. I think that it's a mistake and I'm opposed to that. Consequently, anything that takes us down that road, that threatens to open that door and erode the stigma that I think ought be associated with it, I'm opposed to it. "I think that where the alleviation of pain where medical situations is concerned we have not given doctors enough flexibility to help patients who are going through acute pain. Many of us have seen that for ourselves. It's all too easy to come up with this reason or that reason why a doctor can't use what is going be most effective for the alleviation of pain." "So how do you reconcile these two values? That's what I'm trying to get at and I'm sure that whoever made the adjustment on the active ingredients there was trying to reconcile these values. I'll tell you this, I will analyze it to the best of my ability." On disagreement by drug czar Barry McCaffrey: "There are those like Gen. Barry McCaffrey who argue that there are always other substitutes avail and you do not have to go down that road. I know that you and others undoubtedly disagree strongly with that. But if that were the case I would certainly keep the door shut." At a press conference after the public forum: On how his sister's doctor procured medicinal marijuana for her: "I don't know. He prescribed it. It came in a prescription container with a label on it. You can ask him if you want. He was the former head of the American Lung Association." "I'm opposed to anything that opens the door to legalization of marijuana. All of the state initiatives that I've seen are way overly broad and open the door to defacto legalization. I'm strongly opposed to that." "I think that the scientists and the doctors have to make a decision on the basis of research. If the research shows that there are circumstances in which there is no alternative for alleviating the pain that doctors believe can be alleviated through the use of medical marijuana then under certain limited medical circumstances -- if the research validates that choice -- then it should be allowed. "We are not at that point. Right now we're at the point where the research was started again. It came up inconclusive and they're re-examining the evidence and the protocols and trying to make an evaluation of where to go." "I don't know what the status of the law was in 1984 in Tennessee. She was treated at Vanderbilt Hospital and it's my understanding it has not been unknown for some patients undergoing chemotherapy to be prescribed in the past marijuana as a means of dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy. Have none of you ever heard of that? None of you ever heard of that?...I guess it's a different situation today than it was 15 years ago." On the apparent shift in scientific opinion regarding the value of medical marijuana: "Her doctor was one of the very best in the entire world and his view of the prevailing science then was that it might be efficacious. The prevailing opinion by the majority of physicians today, as I understand it and I'm no expert, is that it is not ever preferable to have a smoke-carried agent for relief of nausea or pain. That's my understanding of what their thinking is today. "But you know, that's why it's being researched. That's why it's an area of controversy." On the ongoing debate over pain management: "There is a huge debate in medical circles now about the philosophy of pain management and whether or not there's too much of a reliance on telling patients 'tough it out; you need to minimize the amount of pain reliever that you have.' I'm no expert but I've followed that debate enough to side with the doctors who say 'hey, let's be a little more aggressive in helping these patients be pain free.' That is what I think is the more humane approach." On whether his position differs with Clinton administration policy: "If there is a research-based scientific decision that there's no alternative in certain circumstances then that ought to be taken at face value. But the decision ought to be based on the science -- and that is administration policy."